Rotary engine



(No Model.)

J. MATTHEWS. ROTARY ENGINE.

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UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JONATHAN MATTHEWS, OF BIRMINGHAM, ALABAMA.

ROTARY ENGINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 494,069, dated March21, 1893.

Application filed August 31,1892. Serial No. 444,685. (No model.)

To all whom t may concern:

Be it known that I, JONATHAN MATTHEWS, a citizen of the United States,residing at Birmingham, in the county of Jeerson and State of Alabama,have invented certain new and useful Improvementsin Rotary Engines; and

I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to that class of steam engines known as rotaryengines in which the piston head is iixed on a driving shaft, andrevolves within an annular chamber; and the Objects of my improvementsare, first, to construct an engine of the above described kind, thatwill have few, and simple parts, made plain and strong, to give long anddurable service, and that will be cheap and easy to build; second, toprovide a large area for the steam to operate upon the pistons, in therotation of the head, so as to get a large amount of power, inproportion to the size of the engine, and to regulate the amount ofsteam admitted, at the point in which itcommences to act on the pistons,in such a manner, that the piston area will increase for part of therevolution, thereby giving the steam an opportunity to expand, and fillthe increased space; third, to construct a rotary engine, with largeexhaust ports, in which the steam can freely escape, the head beingprovided with double pistons, and the steam acting on them alternately,the steam acting on each piston for half a revolution, and allowing thesteam so used to exhaust, during the remaining half revolution of thehead, thereby allowing time for the steam to escape freely through theports. I attain these objects by the mechanism illustrated in theaccompanying drawings, in which- Figure l, is a vertical sectional viewof my engine, on the line d, b. Fig. 2, is a cross vertical sectionalview, on the line c, d. Fig. 3, is an enlarged detail plan view ot' oneof the pistons. Fig. 4, is an enlarged detail end view of the same. Fig.5, is an enlarged detail side view of one of the sliding shoes, that areplaced on the piston pivots, and slides in the annular grooves formed inthe casing heads. Fig. 6, is an enlarged detail plan view of the same.Fig. 7, is a horizontal cross sectional view on the line @,f, it showsthe outside of the casing below, with part broken away, to show theposition of the steam passages in the casing. f

Similar letters referto similar parts throughout the dierent views.

The base, or bed plate A, is made of cast iron and is provided withelevating blocks B, B', secured to the bed plate by bolts, the saidelevating blocks being formed on the upper side to t the rim of thecasing D, to which they are secured by bolts as shown, the said casingrim is made of cast iron, and provided on the upper end with a valvechamber, for the valve E, and extending downward from the valve chamberon both sides, are formedy inlet ports F, F', and exhaust ports G,(JV/the said ports terminating at an offset formed in the casing, thespace below the offset, forming steam chambers H, I-If.

On the outer edges of the casing below the ports, are formed Iiangesextending inward, one of them being shown at I, the flanges and theupper part of the casing above the ports, are turned on the inside toform atrue circle, the said fianges are for the purpose of guiding thepistons to pass the offset in the casing, the ends ofthe said pistonslidingon the flanges, the lower half of their revolution,be tween theflanges at the lowest point of the casing, a partition is formed betweenthe steam chambers H, I-l, which makes a steam tight joint with thehead.

rlhe steam valve E is made of any suitable metallic substance, formedhollow on the inside, with a head and stem on one end, to which issecured a hand lever J, the said valve is held to place by a gland Ksecured to the casing, on the inside of the head of the valve E, leaving'sufficient space for an inlet passage, leading from the steam pipe L,to the inlet ports F, F', is placed a partition, on the 1 outside of thepartition, are formed outlet passages, leading from the exhaust ports G,G', to the inside of the valve, and through the end to the exhaust pipeM, the steam` passages through the valve, are formed by cutting out onefourth ot' the material, at right angles, alternately for inlet andoutlet ports, the hand lever when standing vertical shutting both ports.p

Placed on both sides of the casing D, are

IOO

cast ir'dn heads N, N', secured to the easing in the usual manner, thesaid heads are provided below the center line, with stuffing boxesfitted with glands O, O', the said glands forming bearings for the mainshaft P, on the said shaft is fitted and secured ahead Q, made of castmetal, having slots formed in it on two sides, for the pistons R, R toWork in; the said pistons arelnade of wrought metal, and have pivots S,S formed on their ends; the said pivots fit into shoes T, T, to slide inthe annular grooves U, U formed in the casing heads N, N; the shoesgiving a large wearing surface prevent wear and give a steadier motionto the pistons, the said pistons have recesses formed in them, in whichmetallic packing strips V, V are inserted, and kept set out by X shapedsprings inserted in a recess below the packing strips, one of which isshown in dotted lines at W.

To operate the engine the hand lever J standing vertical, which shutssteam from both ports, is moved in one direction one fourth of a turn,which ad mits steam to one of the inlet ports F, the steam passing,rdown through the port formed in the casing, enters the steam chamberI-I, and acting on one of the pistons R, forces the head to rotate; thepiston so acted upon, when it passes the offset on the opposite side,allows the exhaust steam to enter the chamber II', and from the chamberthrough the exhaust port G to the eX- haust pipe M; as each pistonpasses the offset in the casing, the steam acting against themalternately, during the upper half of their revolution, will continue torotate the head; to reverse the engine, or rotate it in the oppositedirection, ,the hand lever is rnved inthe oppositel direction, whichopiis the opposite ports, and 4rotates tiie' head in the oppositedimotion, me spalanca being une same with the ports reversed, as abovedescribed.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim, and desire to secureby Letters Patent, is-

In a rotary engine asshown and described, having a cylinder casing withheads on both sides, an annular valve chamber in the casing, havinginlet and exhaust ports from the valve chamber in both sides of thecasing, said ports terminating in steam chambers formed on the inside ofboth sides of the cylinder below the center of the head, the said steamchambers having walls formed on the sides inside the casing heads, apartition, or steam wall separating the steam chambers at the bottom ofthe cylinder, a main shaft having bearin gs in the casing heads, apiston head secured on the main shaft inside the casing, the said headhaving two slots provided with pistons, recesses formed in the pistonsprovided with metallic strips and springs, the said pistons havingpivots formed on their ends, the pivots on the ends of the pistonsinserted in shoes, placed to slide in annular grooves formed in thecasing heads, all combined as set forth.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JONATHAN MATTI-IE VS.

Witnesses:

B. E. GRACE, Jr., J. W. TAYLOR.

